1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is for a street cleaning device, and, more particularly, pertains to a street sweeper with vacuumized dust control.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Prior art street sweeper devices are often built on and about custom chassis not generally suited for economy of speed or having attributes geared toward desirable roadability qualities. Often such street sweepers include rotary sweeper brooms placed between the front wheel assemblies and special rear wheel drive or axle assemblies beneath a configured framework in an area often otherwise reserved for drive shafts and other framework members in conventional chassis, such as used for conventional trucks. Street sweepers utilizing truck chassis are also used for mounting of street sweeper components and are utilized for greater roadability and transport speed suitable for highway use. Some arrangements, such as rotary broom placement between the front wheel and rear wheel assemblies, are often limited, necessitating the use of smaller rotary brooms the dimensions of which are restricted by the available distance between the roadway and the chassis of the conventional truck. In the alternative, rotary sweeper brooms of larger size and better suitability can be located behind the rear axle at the rear portion of the truck chassis, as the upper region of the rotary broom is not generally limited by the chassis. Commonly, water is utilized to attempt to control dust in either configuration around and about the general area surrounding the street sweeper. The use of water is not always economical, water may not be readily available for dust control, large water flow may be required for effective dust control, thereby necessitating frequent refilling stops due to limited tank capacity, and the use of water at higher speeds may not be effective. Clearly, what is needed is a street sweeper having a method of road sweeper dust control which is not entirely dependent on the use of water and which can utilize a rotary broom located to the rearward of the rear street sweeper axle, such as is provided by the present invention.